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Portions adapted from article on the Minor League Baseball website.

dabvu2498

05-31-2006, 10:42 AM

He should get an award for being from Cynthiana... only joking!!! Lovely part of the word, actually.

I liked Noochie's game when he was in Dayton a few years ago before being traded. I wish he had progressed a little farther by now. Good to see, though that he's still working at his game.

KittyDuran

05-31-2006, 11:03 AM

He should get an award for being from Cynthiana... only joking!!! Lovely part of the word, actually.

I liked Noochie's game when he was in Dayton a few years ago before being traded. I wish he had progressed a little farther by now. Good to see, though that he's still working at his game.Where he is at now is very misleading. He was batting over .300 at AAA Tucson with the D'backs in 2004 - but was never called up. Then the D'backs started him last year at AA Tennessee. I'll find the article that explains most of this...

KittyDuran

05-31-2006, 11:06 AM

Here's the article...:)

Varner lights up Smokies with five RBIs
By NICK GATES, gates@knews.com
May 25, 2006

SEVIERVILLE - A Tennessee Smokies fan leaned over the railing at Smokies Park and asked Chattanooga Lookouts outfielder Noochie Varner for an autograph. "I think they made a mistake letting you go," she said, smiling.

Sure looks that way.

Varner was 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI to power the Chattanooga Lookouts to a 7-4 Southern League victory over Tennessee on Wednesday night before 2,576.

The familiar cry of "Noochie, Noochie, Noochie!" boomed through the concourse before Varner drove a Garrett Mock pitch over the fence in left field for a three-run home run in the first inning.

"Bet you can't do that again," was all the disappointed Smoky fan managed before Varner stepped into the batter's box for his second at-bat.

The Lookouts (31-17) have won six in a row. The Cincinnati Reds' Class AA farmhands are out in front of the North Division pack by three games.

Mock (1-5) struggled from the get-go.

Chattanooga's Javon Moran singled to start the game and Joey Votto doubled beyond the reach of right fielder Jon Zeringue an out later. Varner followed with his fourth homer.

That was all of a head start Chattanooga starter Tyler Pelland (3-1) needed. He limited the Smokies (21-26) to four hits and a run in his five-inning stint.

Varner made it 4-1 with a run-scoring single in the sixth and knocked in another run with a single off reliever Matt Wilkinson in the seventh. He also walked.

The 25-year-old from Cynthiana, Ky., was looking for a fresh start after he hit .278 with three homers and 41 RBI for Tennessee last year.

"I asked for my release during the offseason," he said. "I thought I had no future with them (Diamondbacks). I played two years ago in Triple-A and hit .321 and they sent me back to Double-A last year. I had to battle to get in the lineup and I wasn't happy."

Arizona threw Varner a curve at the end of spring training.

"I thought I was going to be in Triple-A with the Diamondbacks and they told me the last day they were letting me go," he said.

Varner was unemployed for about an hour.

"I was driving to my hotel and they (Reds) called my cell phone," he said.

Cincinnati's 10th-round draft pick in 2000 is hitting .500 (11-for-22) against the Smokies in his second tour of duty in the Reds' organization.

"They (Reds) know me," Varner said. "They told me they had plans for me and we got it (contract) done in a couple of hours.

Varner doesn't have a vendetta against the Smokies. It just seems that way with the way he is playing against his former team.

"I've been playing for a long time and for four different organizations," he said. "I'm happy and it just so happens I've been swinging the bat well."

Zeringue and Steve Garrabrants homered for the Smokies.

Timely hits have been few and far between for Zeringue in the series. He popped out with the bases full in the first. The former LSU star left the bases loaded twice in Tennessee's 9-5 loss Tuesday. He emerged from a zero-for-10 funk with a solo home run off reliever Edward Valdez.

Agustin Murillo drove in two runs for Tennessee with a pair of two-out singles.

gonelong

05-31-2006, 11:12 AM

Varner is one of those guys that is just fun to watch play. Its kind of indescribable as to why that is, but it is.

Good Luck Noochie.

GL

KittyDuran

05-31-2006, 11:17 AM

Varner is one of those guys that is just fun to watch play. Its kind of indescribable as to why that is, but it is.

Good Luck Noochie.

GLSo true - now the Reds need to bring up Deno so that Noochie can go to Louisville, and I won't have to go so far to see him play...:thumbup:

dabvu2498

05-31-2006, 11:39 AM

Noochie seemed like a pretty cool cat too. I had season tickets that year he was in Dayton, right next to his "girlfriend." WOW! He'd wink at her whenever he did something good.

Go Nooch!

KittyDuran

05-31-2006, 11:41 AM

Noochie seemed like a pretty cool cat too. I had season tickets that year he was in Dayton, right next to his "girlfriend." WOW! He'd wink at her whenever he did something good.